Letter to Arthur Hope from Samuel Day
Title
Letter to Arthur Hope from Samuel Day
Description
Samuel asks Arthur to attend the Confirmation of a fellow prisoner of war.
Creator
Date
1945-10-09
Temporal Coverage
Coverage
Language
Format
One typewritten sheet
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
EDaySHopeAD451009
Transcription
18 Infantry Holding Bn.,
Furness Abbey,
Barrow in Furness.
October 9th 1945
Dear Arthur,
The other day I had a letter from Sgt. Fred Tobin, 3rd Hussars, whom you may remember in Hut 49B, Stalag IVB. He was inviting me to attend his Confirmation at Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham, by the Lord Bishop of Durham on Saturday next, October 13th. I don’t know whether I shall be able to go, as Saturday is an awkward day and I am 100 miles away. But in any case I was remined by his letter of my duty to write to my former Confirmation Candidates whose addresses were in my possession.
I write to you not only as Confirmee [deleted] s [/deleted] but as my friend, in whose fellowship I once rejoiced and who now forms a pleasant memory against the rather grim background of Stalag IVB.
I shall be glad to hear from you whenever you have time, and especially when you have summoned up the energy to present yourself before the local Bishop for Confirmation, which, after all, was both your idea and mine!
Do let me know when this great event has taken place and I shall then feel that my labours were not entirely in vain, and that your soul’s health is being looked after. Make contact with the local Vicar or Padre and he will tell you what to do.
Padre McDowall is back in New Zealand, but Padre Willis is now remaining in England for good. He will shortly become Vicar of St. George, Chesterton, Cambridge, unless he changes his plans.
As for me, I remain in the Army until May 1946 (Group 28) and the Bishop of Oxford has offered me a post – as yet unspecified – when I am “demobbed”.
So for the present, goodbye and good luck,
Ever your friend,
Samuel Day.
Chaplain to the Forces.
P.S. Please excuse the rather faint lettering. SD.
Furness Abbey,
Barrow in Furness.
October 9th 1945
Dear Arthur,
The other day I had a letter from Sgt. Fred Tobin, 3rd Hussars, whom you may remember in Hut 49B, Stalag IVB. He was inviting me to attend his Confirmation at Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham, by the Lord Bishop of Durham on Saturday next, October 13th. I don’t know whether I shall be able to go, as Saturday is an awkward day and I am 100 miles away. But in any case I was remined by his letter of my duty to write to my former Confirmation Candidates whose addresses were in my possession.
I write to you not only as Confirmee [deleted] s [/deleted] but as my friend, in whose fellowship I once rejoiced and who now forms a pleasant memory against the rather grim background of Stalag IVB.
I shall be glad to hear from you whenever you have time, and especially when you have summoned up the energy to present yourself before the local Bishop for Confirmation, which, after all, was both your idea and mine!
Do let me know when this great event has taken place and I shall then feel that my labours were not entirely in vain, and that your soul’s health is being looked after. Make contact with the local Vicar or Padre and he will tell you what to do.
Padre McDowall is back in New Zealand, but Padre Willis is now remaining in England for good. He will shortly become Vicar of St. George, Chesterton, Cambridge, unless he changes his plans.
As for me, I remain in the Army until May 1946 (Group 28) and the Bishop of Oxford has offered me a post – as yet unspecified – when I am “demobbed”.
So for the present, goodbye and good luck,
Ever your friend,
Samuel Day.
Chaplain to the Forces.
P.S. Please excuse the rather faint lettering. SD.
Collection
Citation
Samuel Day, “Letter to Arthur Hope from Samuel Day,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed June 13, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/41580.